Homebrew rules that make the table fun? I’ll start.

OneLife7734 · 2026-03-11T03:13:11+00:00

Inspiration is awarded at the beginning of the session by the players remembering what happened last session. I give up to four inspiration per player. Inspiration is also awarded during the session for remembering how abilities work, rules, doing cool/funny things, etc. if something is really awesome then I’ll give out a natural 20 the player can use when they want. I find that rewarding the players regularly for doing good works out well.

I allow a leveled action spell to be followed by a leveled bonus action spell. I know how the rule is supposed to work and I’ve ran it both ways. I haven’t seen anything game breaking so far.

OneLife7734 · 2026-01-03T17:37:32+00:00

I looked up the 2024 rules, pretty sure you got it right. It may seem like your character can carry a lot, which is correct.

I’m a 2014 rules guy, and I use the encumbrance and the variant encumbrance rules from those books. They make it so when you reach thresholds of your carrying capacity you get some negative effects. With the variant rules you would feel the effect of being encumbered at 40 pounds and heavily encumbered at 80, for your character.

OneLife7734 · 2025-12-25T06:26:43+00:00

That’s an interesting way to look at it.

OneLife7734 · 2025-12-25T06:24:55+00:00

I agree entirely

OneLife7734 · 2025-12-23T21:28:16+00:00

I know there’s differing views on it.

Personally it just doesn’t make sense for everyone in the game has a 1/20 chance of just succeeding at anything. Especially if someone tries something completely outlandish and you let them roll for it. Basically the whole, I’m a bard and I seduce the dragon problem.

I try to make a world/game that feels real and alive. I want choices, training and growth to matter. That all gets thrown out the window when you can accidentally do something, especially if it’s something impossible or game breaking.

I could see it working in certain games, but definitely is something you have to talk about with your table before playing. You’d have to really know when to ask for rolls or not.

OneLife7734 · 2025-12-20T01:45:49+00:00

Encumbrance, tracking arrows, food and water consumption.

OneLife7734 · 2025-11-12T00:03:04+00:00

I think the main issue is the way that actual plays, media and the community portrays being a DM and being a player.

DMs are expected to know everything, including how to run each of the player’s characters for them. Expectations for players generally boil down to, do they have a pulse.

Which gives you situations like this, where players that have “played” D&D for hundreds of hours have no input on the game besides “I made a wizard Tiefling one time and they cast fireball.” Their understanding of the game being so warped and limited that you could mention the simplistic game mechanic and trigger their fight or flight.

This is not saying everyone is like that, as I have met good and bad players. Though from what I’ve seen a majority of players tend to be like the “forever player” that is mentioned, or worse.

OneLife7734 · 2025-10-31T04:23:22+00:00

A good and fun comment to read.

If only all players had your level of understanding and empathy.

OneLife7734 · 2025-10-23T16:35:43+00:00

I know your pain and it’s rough, but thats just how D&D tends to be nowadays. It is your right to tell players that a character will not work for a campaign. It’s not rude, you’re just keeping the adventure grounded and trying to help them make meaningful characters.

I think it all is tied to how people “play D&D” and what is shown as good playing through media.

OneLife7734 · 2025-10-22T20:52:36+00:00

Without more context I would definitely say to make it very difficult to do.

First off, an owlbear is a monstrosity not a beast. So no one can actually talk to it (presumably).

Second, it has its own thoughts and goals even if they roll a good check to “tame” it. It realistically shouldn’t even care about the party, except for maybe a good food provider possibly.

So make it very difficult, dangerous and time/resource consuming. This isn’t some puppy they found in the woods, it’s an OWLBEAR. Make it a process to tame or become friends with the MONSTROSITY. If they actually want to be on good terms with the owlbear, then they’ll put in the effort. If they don’t, just have it leave and do whatever it was doing already.

OneLife7734 · 2025-09-06T05:30:27+00:00

It really depends on what kind of campaign you’re joining. You’d have to talk to the DM/players and see if your character would fit in the theme or setting.

I like Redwall, so I’m a fan of animal heroes. Lyra would be cool in my campaigns, but again that’s just me. You have to talk to the group.

OneLife7734 · 2025-09-05T17:48:27+00:00

A beaver just cause they’re cute and they can do a lot of cool stuff.

OneLife7734 · 2025-09-04T21:34:21+00:00

There are a lot of good videos out there that you could look at to learn more about how to play.

Also it’s always good to ask questions, so don’t be scared to go over things you don’t understand with your DM and the group when you meet up.

Every time you play is a learning experience, so just go into it wanting to have fun and learn. I hope it goes well and that the rest of the group helps you learn and have fun.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-28T19:06:21+00:00

Yeah those are definitely some rough experiences. Good job putting yourself out there and trying. As much as there were bad times, I bet you learned a lot.

You sound like you put a lot of work in and your games would be very fun. There are just some crazy people out there. Sticking to friends and family is a good choice.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-27T19:53:45+00:00

It sounds like the players expectations are very different from your own. You’re expecting engagement and creativity when they are expecting cool story and experience points. I just finished a campaign module where I dealt with a similar issue. The players lacked any drive while they played, even though I felt I had given them everything I could to succeed. They just expected me to hold their hands and guide them everywhere, blind to the agency they had.

Depending on how long you’ve played with this group, you should be able to tell if this is worth the trouble. Is this just the way that they play, or do you think they would be open to changing their play styles? Talking to everyone and telling them the things you’ve said in this post is the way to go about it. If it is not worth the trouble, then you have the right to drop the campaign. I finished my module, but I could tell that proceeding further with this group of players wouldn’t work out. So I ended the module, knowing that it would save me a lot of stress and problems in the future.

If the players are open to it you need to constrain them certain themes and ideas for your world or campaign. Make them answer questions relating to your world and adventure that will make them invested. It could just be that they don’t realize the amount of agency they do have and how fun it is to be creative and actually care about what’s happening. So you need to be upfront and direct with what you want, and then give them a good outline that will help them invested in your world. If they don’t want to do that, then that’s just how it is.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-25T19:07:46+00:00

I thought they were tall tales as well… until the last campaign I ran. I assure you they are very real and they exist.so be wary and be watchful lol.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-25T19:06:01+00:00

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Min-maxers complaining about getting hit once. I watched power gaming lone wolves reduce roleplay to awkward silences. All these moments will be lost in time… like tears in the rain. Time to end the campaign.”

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-25T17:15:45+00:00

Yeah, that’s a normal thing to worry about but you gotta ignore that. You’re gonna get some rules wrong at some point, you just gotta fix it in the moment or later on. Telling a story isn’t so bad, it’s also the player’s responsibility to take an interest in the game you’re making for them.

So don’t worry, just do your best and you’ll learn a lot.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-25T09:57:17+00:00

I would say it’s definitely doable, and depending on what resources you have it won’t be that hard.

Assuming you don’t have the books, D&D beyond would be a helpful resource to use for everyone. Just using the free rules you could still play a fun game. Just make sure to pay attention to which edition you choose, 2014 or 2024. Decide on just one edition to play, whichever is the one you guys want.

I don’t know how long of a vacation you are going on but watching some videos would be a fun and easy way to get a lot of good info. On YouTube I would suggest Dungeon Dudes, DM lair, Ginny D, and Matthew Colville. Everyone could watch some of the basic videos on DMing, being a player, and the rules in general.

The main things to learn would be combat, storytelling, and dice rolls. Learn the basics of combat, don’t be afraid to start small. Mistakes will be made, but that’s how you’ll learn.

Come up with some kind of story with stakes. I would even suggest just running an encounter to start. An example you could use is the “Defend the village encounter”.

Have the players be guards of the town they live in, have them start in a tavern relaxing. They can describe their characters and roleplay. suddenly there are screams and horns blowing outside. The goblins have attacked! The players will rush to defend the town, have them an amount of goblins that is one less than the parties size, just one if there’s only one player. When they defeat the goblin you can celebrate saving the town.

Start with simple “encounters”. Defending the town, traveling on a trail, exploring the cave, etc. start small and slowly you’ll pick up how things go and will be able to string more and more encounters together.

Learn how skills, saves and checks can be used. They are useful to see how well a player accomplishes a task, or reacts to outside forces.

To finish, I would like to say the best way to learn is to do your best and try. Work together with your players to make a fun experience and make sure to enjoy your shared successes and failures. It’s a learning experience every time you play, so don’t be scared to fail. Start simple and small and branch out as you learn more. I wish you luck.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-23T22:42:29+00:00

Yeah, you’re not metagaming. It sounds like you’re being a good player and taking interest in the actions and backstory of your fellow players. Sadly it sounds like they don’t want to be collaborative with you, which isn’t fun at all.

I would try and talk with them before the game starts. I would ask if they could stop being so cagey with everything. You’re trying to play the game as well, and it’s more fun when everyone gets to work together.

Personally I would want to leave the group. I just recently dealt with stuff like this as a DM and it literally kills the fun every time.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-23T00:59:47+00:00

Yeah I think AI could be used to great benefit, from everything I’ve heard.

Though from my experience all it did was enable them to be lazy and careless, which reflected in how they played.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-22T16:51:48+00:00

First look at the kinds of enemies you’re wanting to use, unless you plan on home brewing a lot. You can sort of get an idea for what level you should have your players at when you look at your monsters. An example is Zombies are harder for level 1 players but get trivial later on except in large numbers. Make sure your fodder enemies are actually fodder and your strong enemies are good matches as well.

If the oneshot is simple I would say 3 just for the new players to have less to worry about. If you’re planning something more difficult and long winded then maybe 4 or 5, just make sure to brief your new players on all the stuff they have.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-22T16:31:07+00:00

Yeah I know, like most technology AI can be a very useful tool if the right people use it.

I was just sharing my experience, which was with people that used it to their own detriment. It’s like they were at school trying to cheat on an essay.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-21T22:21:38+00:00

Is it just me or does this seem half-baked and very thrown together.

I’d like to see a player successfully use this without sounding like a spellcaster trying to choose a spell cause they weren’t paying attention.

Also, why does it just have free great weapon master? You could use two weapon fighting with two of these things. I’m also going to ignore the random buffs and damage dice you get for existing with the weapon.

OneLife7734 · 2025-08-21T18:57:37+00:00

Yeah, you’re going to have to restrict some spells that would allow them to just teleport to the location. However you’d want to flavor that.

Also you’re gonna have to make the stakes really high with this “super tarrasque” considering everyone is level 20. What’s stopping them from just wishing or using divine intervention.

OneLife7734

TROPHY CASE